Making a Chopping Board

This month our multi-talented Sales Consultant Aaron Kalan has prepared a Peterson Project that the kids can help you with!

An excellent Christmas gift idea, this simple Chopping Board will impress any cook. So get your mill ready, get your hands on a router, and have fun making this useful kitchen accessory.

You will need

• Timber to spec
• Thicknesser
• Router with a 12mm radius bit
• Hand planer
• Belt Sander
• Non-Toxic Varnish/Oil
• Safety Glasses
• Ear Protection
• Push Rod

If you don’t have a router or thicknesser you can use sand paper to shape around the edges and to smooth the board.

Aaron’s Step by Step Instructions

Step One: Sawing and Cutting your Board

1. Mill a couple of 200mm(8”) wide X 50mm(2”) thick lengths of timber.
2. Cut your timber to length. We decided to make our Chopping boards 400mm (16”) long by 200mm(8”) wide.
3. Dress the top and bottom of the board until there are no more saw marks on either side. I found cutting your boards to length first, made it easier to put them through the thicknesser.N.B. If you use old or spare boards for this project please check that the dimensions are the same before putting them through your thicknesser.
4. We dressed the longer edges that are running with the grain using a hand planer (400mm side.) To smooth the shorter edges that are running across the grain we used the belt sander (200mm side).

Step Two: Profiling the Edges and Finishing

N.B. Please check that your chopping boards are square this will ensure you get a consistent round on all the edges of your board.

1. To round the top and bottom edges use a router with a 12mm radius bit. Carefully push your board past the router bit. Please keep your hands away from the spinning router bit.
2. Once you have rounded all your edges sand the top and bottom faces of your board with a sander. We used a belt sander to do this job.
3. Sand any sharp edges by hand.
4. Clean the board thoroughly with a clean cloth.
5. Using another clean cloth rub cooking oil into your board to bring out the natural colours which will give a nice clean finish to your new chopping board.

These are great give away to friends and family as gifts!